Which would you rather be?
by Landon Richardson
Summary: "Either you're an elf" He said, holding up the costume in his left hand. "Or you're Mrs Claus, which one do you want?" (McDanni, features a female Danny)


Which would you rather be?

By

Landon Richardson

Official Disclaimer

**The characters of Steve McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Adam 'Toast' Charles and anyone else within the story who might sound familiar do not belong to me in any shape or form, I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.**

**The character of Danni Williams could probably be considered mine by now. Although the character was originally based on male Danny Williams, I think it's probably to say that she is now her own individual character. She has her own story and her own individual background now, a background and story which is different from male Danny's story. This also means that Grace is different as well since not only does she live full time with her mother but also because Danni and Duncan have a fairly civil relationship with each other. Grace's surname is also Taylor in this saga as Williams is Danni's maiden name while Taylor was her married name.**

**The characters of Special Agent Jack O'Connor, Riley King and Duncan Taylor do belong to me though.**

**I should also add that if a character is mentioned who you don't recognise from the show then they probably belong to me as well.**

Author Note

**Welcome to What would you rather be**

**What's this I can hear you all cry, a Christmas story in mid-July? Well… yes… truth if that this has been floating around in my head since last November but due to personal issues I wasn't able to write it. I'm still suffering from those issues but I'm trying to be more productive with my writing so I figured that rather than wait until December I would simply put it up now and write a different Christmas story for this year.**

**This is set in December 2010 so the team have been together for three months, it's based in my Danni 'Rewrite of the episodes' saga which is why there might be some unfamiliar names if you haven't read them.**

**I really appreciate you all sticking with me during this time where I haven't been as productive, it means a lot and helps me continue writing. I am aiming to finish my stories and am in the process of editing Burn so it fits more into the master plan I have, after that I will be restarting 'Respect the land' as I've neglected this saga for too long.**

**Anyway, please enjoy**

Overall Summary

"**Either you're an elf" He said, holding up the costume in his left hand. "Or you're Mrs Claus, which one do you want." (McDanni, features a female Danny)**

Chapter Summary

**Really looking back Danni Williams should have seen this coming, the signs had all been there in plain view but she had allowed herself to be distracted, focusing her attention on making sure her daughter's first Christmas in Hawaii was one which she would remember for all the correct reasons.**

Overall Romance

**Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)**

Another note

**Please keep in mind that I don't have a Beta for this story so the odd mistake may creep in without me meaning it to. I have also never been to Hawaii so all locations are either from the show, google or made up in my own mind.**

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Really looking back Danni Williams should have seen this coming, the signs had all been there in plain view but she had allowed herself to be distracted, focusing her attention on making sure her daughter's first Christmas in Hawaii was one which she would remember for all the correct reasons.

She was sure that Steve as well had watched and waited for the right moment to present itself to him so he could pounce, and one unfortunately for her had, one where she had been on the phone, trying to arrange a gift which Grace had wanted and which, as it turned out, was only available on the mainland due to the rareness of it. Obtaining it had been easy, she had more than enough relatives on the mainland who were more than happy to stroll to the local toyshop on her behalf to get the doll. The issue was trying to stop them from hand delivering the gift themselves and trying to ensure them that it was just as cheap to send it by FedEx.

Not that Danni didn't want to see her family at Christmas, God knew she did, it was just that she thought it would be in everyone's best interest if this first Christmas was just her and Grace together, with Grace's father and Danni's ex-husband Duncan Taylor coming over for Christmas lunch before he left to go to a party with some friends who had decided to spend their Christmas in Hawaii.

It was probably because of that distraction that she didn't pay attention when Steve came into her office and spoke, clearly unbothered by the fact that she was on a phone call, and started saying something about children and Christmas and the team. It was only when she realised, he was still standing in front of her desk with a waiting expression that she placed her hand over the handset, looked at him, said yes before shooing him away and putting the incident out of her mind.

That had been her biggest mistake and one which was clearly coming to bite her in the ass if the situation she found herself in now was any indication.

Blinking, she stared up at her three team mates from where they stood in front of her office door in a line, ignoring the wide grin on Kono Kalakaua's face or the amused twinkle in Chin Ho Kelly's dark eyes and instead focused on her partner. A partner, she couldn't help but notice, was wearing a pair of bright red velvet trousers, the type which she had only seen Santa's wear and a black t-shirt. Kono and Chin were both wearing antlers and were dressed in shades of brown while Chin held what looked to be a red nose in his hand.

"What's going on?" She finally asked, dreading the answer to her question almost as soon as it left her mouth. A feeling which grew when Chin and Kono shared an entertained look with one another.

"Today's the day Danni." Steve told her, attracting her attention back to him.

"The day for what exactly?" Danni pressed when Steve said no more, noting the way his mouth tilted up into the slightest of smiles telling her that he was enjoying her obvious confusion. She supposed she couldn't blame him; it was rare for her not to know what was going on within the team.

"We are going down to the local hospital to give gifts to the children there, the ones too sick to make it out for Christmas." Kono piped up, the amusement melting away for a moment to leave a sadness at the thought of children suffering.

"I'm sure that they would appreciate it though, especially since you're going dressed up, it's a really nice thing the three of you are doing." Danni remarked softly with a warm smile at the younger woman which fell off her face when Steve spoke again.

"The seven of us Danni, I think that's what you meant to say."

"The seven of us, when did I…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes widened, the scene from the office flaring in her mind. "Oh, you sneaky bastard Steven." She stated, looking up at him with a half-hearted glare. "How long did you wait to pull off that operation."

She didn't expect an answer, nor did she get one, though the way his smile grew made it clear that he was enjoying every second of this.

Danni breathed out, closing her eyes for a moment, her hand coming up to grip the Angel Wing necklace which her mother had given to her before she had left for Hawaii before she nodded, her eyes coming back open.

"Fine, but only because it's for the children." She told him. "And if you do something like this again then I promise you, you'll regret it."

"The kids will appreciate it Danni." Chin said with a smile at her, squeezing down on the red nose which made a beeping sound in response.

"Rudolph?" She said to him, smiling when he nodded at her before her eyes flickered over to Kono. "And Dancer?"

"I hadn't decided but Dancer is always cool." Kono commented as she brushed her hands down the brown velvet material of the leggings she was wearing.

"Grace was always fond of Dancer for some reason." Danni stated as she looked back at Steve. "Don't tell me, you're Santa. Where's the beard Mr Claus?" She asked lightly.

"In my office with the rest of the outfit." Steve said with a wave of his hand towards his office. She followed the movement before looking back at him.

"I'm not dressed for it." She pointed out, glancing down at the blue dress and blue wedges which she was wearing on her feet. An extremely pretty outfit but hardly one which screamed out Christmas.

"Come on Danni, as if the boss man would have forgotten that." Kono said with a scoff. Danni opened her mouth to respond, closing it when Steve turned, glancing at Chin with a look before he headed into his office.

"Dare I ask what he is doing?" She asked, unsurprised when neither Chin nor Kono answered her. "Now you don't speak." She stated with a shake of her head, looking back at Steve when he came to a stop in front of her and held up two outfits.

"Either you're an elf" He said, holding up the costume in his left hand. "Or you're Mrs Claus, which one do you want?"

Danni blinked at the outfits, her eyes flickering between them.

"So, either I'm an elf in spandex or I'm your wife?" She demanded, looking up in time to see something flash in Steve's eyes before it was gone, leaving him merely grinning at her with a shrug.

"Personally, I think you should be the elf, what with your… height and all." He pointed out.

"Just for that I'm going to be Mrs Claus." She hissed at him, yanking the outfit from him. "You should remember as well Commander that my lack of height makes it perfect for me to hit you where it would really hurt."

She turned and headed towards the door which would lead to the restroom, ignoring the sound of laughter which followed her and left her wondering whether she had just walked into yet another well organised trap.

She pushed the thought away, reminding herself that it was for the Children and that it wasn't as though she had any other plans for the evening and instead stripped out of her clothes, folding them into a neat pile and placing them into her bag to change back into once the evening was over.

She unzipped the costume bag and pulled out the dress noticing that it was made out of the same material that Steve's pants had been. Sighing she pulled it on, surprised to see that it fitted her perfectly and headed over to the full-length mirror they had, adjusting the bottom of the dress so it was straight. It fell just above her knees and had sleeves which ended just at her elbow, a strip of fluffy white material at the bottom of the sleeves and hemline while a black belt was wrapped around the middle.

Her eyes flickered up to her hair in the mirror with a thoughtful look before she came to a decision and unclipped it from its usual complicated style so that it fell in waves down her back before she reached up and pulled up the hood which was attached to the dress. She hated to admit it, but it didn't look as terrible as she had thought it would. Whoever had brought it had not only known her size but had also made sure that the outfit was one which she would be comfortable in.

Glancing back in the costume bag she noticed that there was a pair of red high heels which she pulled on finishing off the outfit. Closing her locker, she dumped her own shoes into her bag and picked it up, shouldering it with one more look in the mirror before she left the locker room, rolling her eyes when the first thing she heard was Kono whistling at her.

"Looking good Mrs Claus." She called out.

"Yes, yes, very funny, are we going? Where are the others?" She asked, glancing around and realising that Steve and Chin were missing.

"They've left to go to the hospital already, Jack, Riley and Toast are down at the hospital sorted things out so I think the boss man just wanted to be sure that everything would go without a hitch. He organised the whole thing you know, no one even suggested it to him, he did it by himself." Kono said, hooking her hand through Danni's arms and pulling her towards the entrance of the room.

"He did?" Danni said with a raised eyebrow, stopping outside the door and locking it behind them before she allowed Kono to resume her pulling.

"Yeah" Kono said. "He was really eager for us to all do it with him as well, I think he's hoping that it can be a tradition that we do yearly."

"If things go well then I would like that, the children deserve something like this, it's not fun spending Christmas in a hospital." Danni remarked, noticing the quick look Kono shot her though she ignored it, the same way that she ignored the way the security guards looked at them as they strolled out of the building. Danni glanced around her, her eyes narrowing when she noticed her car was gone.

"Steve took it." Kono said, clearly noticing the direction of Danni's gaze. "He said that they needed to get there quickly and that you would understand. That's why I stayed behind, so I could drive us in my car."

"Of course, he did." Danni murmured with a shake of her head as she followed the younger woman to the red car, opening the passenger door and lowering herself onto the seat, closing the door behind her.

"You know." Kono commented thoughtfully once they were on the freeway which would take them to the hospital. "I don't think I've seen you with your hair down before, it's long isn't it."

"Long and a pain to style due to the curls." Danni admitted with a laugh. "It seemed the right thing to do to have it down though, especially with the hood."

"I can't wait for Boss to see you." Kono said gleefully. "And the kids as well of course." She quickly added

For a moment Danni thought about pushing it but instead she merely let it go and focused her attention on the scenery flying by. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the hospital and to find a car park space.

"Do you know where we're going?" Danni asked, rolling her eyes when Kono grabbed her arm again and making a mental note to limit the amount of times she allowed the dark-haired woman to go out into the field with just Steve since she was beginning to pick up his bad habits, including pulling Danni around to places she wanted her to go.

"I do, Boss gave me instructions before he left." Kono assured her with a grin.

"I forgot to say earlier but thanks for picking this out for me Kono, it's just my style, or at least it would be my style if I was actually Mrs Claus." She amended with a laugh.

"I can't take credit for that, the boss man was the one who chose your outfit, he gave us our parts and left the rest of it to us though he did say to try and make it authentic for the sake of the kids. I mean, don't get me wrong, I did offer to pick out your outfit but he was adamant that he would deal with it. You'll have to thank him." She told Danni before pulling them to a stop outside a door which had been decorated and had a sign outside stating that this was the way to Santa's grotto.

Danni stepped through the door, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw how much work had gone into it, if she hadn't of known they were in a hospital then she would have assumed they were in a grotto of some kind.

"Good you're both here."

Danni glanced around at the side of Jack O'Connor's voice, her face breaking out into a grin when she saw that both he and Toast were dressed up as Elves while Riley was another reindeer. There was a resigned look on all three of their faces but clearly, they had all decided that if they were going to end up in that role then they were going to go all out.

"Sorry we're late" Kono said with a wave of her hand. "Any idea when we're starting."

"Any minute now." Riley replied from where he stood near the door. "Danni, McG wanted to see you out back before we started, you'll be sitting beside him" He instructed, nodding his head towards the large throne like chair where Steve was clearly going to sit and a smaller one beside it which had been decorated in tinsel which was for her.

She raised an eyebrow at it though she remained quiet as she headed through the door at the back and into a second room where Steve was, he was fully dressed now, minus the beard which she assumed he would put on just before he went out.

"Hey" She said from the doorway, meeting his eyes when he turned around to look at her. For a moment he merely stared at her, hundreds of emotions flying through his gaze though she wasn't able to pinpoint any of them before he smiled at her.

"Hey, you made it in time." He remarked.

"Was there any doubt with Kono behind the wheel?" She demanded. "She's clearly been taking lessons from you in that aspect."

"I told you before that you're the only one who drives slowly, maybe you'll believe me now Mrs Claus." He commented dryly, as he picked up the beard and pulled it on. "How do I look then?"

Danni gave him a critical look, her heart softening when she saw that he had even put on a fat suit to try and make it look authentic and how most kids would have pictured Santa Claus. She moved towards him, stopping in front of him and reached up, adjusting the beard so it wasn't crooked.

"If Santa looked like this then I would always try and be on the nice list." She said with a smile at him which grew when he laughed.

"Maybe it be more fun on the naughty list?" He countered, reaching up and touching her hair with another unreadable look. "So, this is what your hair looks like when it's down, I always wondered."

"Kono said the same thing." Danni said quietly, aware that Steve was rubbing one of her curls between his fingertips.

"If Mrs Claus is anything like you then I can see why St Nick would spend 364 days a year happy being alone in her company. He must hate that one day he has to be away." Steve commented thoughtfully.

"You knew I would pick Mrs Claus, didn't you? That's why the second chair was already decorated and ready for use, there would be no way it could have been done in that short a time." She questioned him softly. For a moment she thought he was going to answer but instead he glanced up past her when Chin suddenly spoke.

"Hey Guys sorry to interrupt you but the kids are beginning to line up outside the door and everyone else is in position. We could use you both outside."

"Coming" Steve said, as he took a step back from Danni, letting her hair drop as he leaned down and picked up two large bags from the floor. "Ready?" He asked her with a grin which she returned.

"Ready."

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Author Note

**Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it. **

**I really appreciate it**


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